Global warming flatline said to 'muddy the picture about how much carbon dioxide output is affecting the climate, giving ammunition to those who doubt the issue needs urgent action. Skeptics have succeeded in 'confusing the public,' said Michael Jacobs, who advised the U.K. government on climate policy until 2010. 'It’s been a very organized campaign by climate skeptics...'

'The stories are part of a trend toward skepticism about climate change that gained ground since the IPCC’s 2007 report. Skeptics including Marc Morano, former spokesman for Republican Senator James Inhofe, pounced on errors by the IPCC in 2007 that exaggerated the rate glaciers in the Himalayas are melting and overstated flood risks in the Netherlands.'